AMIS: Legal Protection Insurers fight for Injured Clients
The hunt is on for the guilty parties in the fraud affair surrounding the financial assets company AMIS. The first claims have been lodged, and the true scale of the damage incurred is now slowly coming to light. Fortunately, a not inconsiderable number of the investors who suffered loss had legal protection insurance, and so have a good chance of recovering at least parts of the lost capital in this complicated case.
After the WEB proceedings came to an end after dragging on for almost 20 years (more than 3,000 claimants; the 740 of them with legal protection insurance received the highest pay-out of all the investor groups when a compromise settlement was reached in early 2006), the legal protection insurance sector is now already involved with the next case, “AMIS”, which is even bigger than the predecessor. Regardless of the outcome, everyone involved must gird themselves up for a very time-intensive and costs-intensive case.
Test claims for AMIS victims with legal protection insurance
At the present time, four test claims have been brought before the courts by legal protection insurers on behalf of their clients and are now pending, two of them as official responsibility claims against the Republic of Austria as representative of the government body FMA, one against AMIS auditors BDO Auxilia Treuhand GmbH, and one against one of the brokers involved with handling an AMIS product. The legal protection insurers are testing claims against all the respondents involved, but it is the domestic cases – against the Republic of Austria and against the auditor companies concerned – which have the most promising chances of success for the injured clients.
The great advantage of bringing test claims lies in the fact that the whole of the financing for the proceedings is ensured, without the fear of having to give up before a result is achieved due to the capital available for the battle being used up. Investors who try to go it alone with their own attorneys without the support of the legal protection insurance companies need to have plenty of financial stamina. Cases like “AMIS” can take years to resolve, and with an uncertain outcome.
The Austrian Insurance Association (VVO) is serving as a co-ordination point for the national legal protection insurers in the AMIS case, and is also offering itself as contact partner for the three law firms instructed by the insurers, Dr. Andreas Köb, Kraft & Winternitz, and Dr. Benedikt Wallner, all in Vienna.
Next steps
With the first official responses to the charges are being received from the defendants and the courts are involved with gathering up the material for the proceedings, the time will soon come for the first hearings.
For the 1,500 or so clients with legal protection insurance, the outcome of the test cases brought so far will be of great significance, because they will be indicators of the possible outcome in the AMIS case. Everyone with legal protection insurance can now be assured that the legal steps necessary will at least be initiated within the statute of limitations.
Some tips about protection against assets fraud
Over and over again, even conservative investors seem to be blind to the warning signs and are drawn to what are even patently unrealistic promises of returns. Every monetary investment is always subject to a certain degree of risk. However, the risk of being taken in by unscrupulous investment fraudsters can nevertheless be reduced:
Remain realistic. Before you conclude a contract, ask independent financial consultants about the going rates for returns and take a look at the official investors’ magazines.
Do some research on the Internet and make some enquiries from consumer protection agencies about the financial service providers concerned and their products.
Check the offers being made against the reports on the experiences of other investors in specialist journals, the Internet, and consumer protection agencies.
Take your time. Do not be rushed into an over-hasty arrangement.
Ask some supposedly “stupid” questions, and get suspicious if the facts are not being properly explained to you.
Check your statements regularly for withdrawals.
Assets assessments must not become a kind of “service for a friend” for someone you know.
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